| 1979 | 1980 | 1981 |
Active and Former (20+ games)
| Rank | Coach, Schools (*=not active) | Yrs. | W-L | Pct. | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| 1 | John Wooden*, UCLA | 29 | 47-10 | .825 | 12 | 10 | 10 |
| 2 | Al McGuire*, Marquette | 20 | 20-9 | .690 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | Hank Iba*, Oklahoma State | 41 | 15-7 | .682 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| T4 | Frank McGuire, South Carolina | 30 | 14-8 | .636 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| T4 | Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV | 12 | 14-8 | .636 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Adolph Rupp*, Kentucky | 42 | 30-18 | .625 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| 7 | Denny Crum, Louisville | 9 | 13-8 | .619 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Dean Smith, North Carolina | 19 | 16-12 | .571 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | Digger Phelps, Notre Dame | 10 | 12-10 | .545 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T10 | Guy Lewis, Houston | 24 | 14-14 | .500 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| T10 | Ray Meyer, DePaul | 38 | 13-13 | .500 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| T10 | Jack Gardner*, (Kansas State, Utah) | 28 | 12-12 | .500 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| National Champs: | Louisville | Denny Crum |
| Second place: | UCLA | Larry Brown |
| Third place: | Purdue | Lee Rose |
| Fourth place: | Iowa | Lute Olson |
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In his third trip to the Final Four, Denny Crum, takes it all this year as Louisville defeats UCLA in the title game, giving him enough games to debut in seventh place at .619. Crum had been an assistant under John Wooden before taking the head coaching job at Louisville. |
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Dean Smith (North Carolina), Digger Phelps (Notre Dame) and Ray Meyer (DePaul) all suffer first round losses this year. |
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Once again, the tournament is expanded, this time to 48 teams with 16 teams receiving first round bye's. Also, the NCAA decided to drop its two team per league rule without which the Final Four teams Purdue, Iowa and UCLA would not have been invited. |
